Summer break is HERE!

Dang. I fully meant to blog more this month but eleven days slipped away from me! So much for that idea.

Can you spot the bumble bee?

But I have excuses, if you will accept them. I had three finals. Two last week (Ecology and Psych) and one on Monday (Genetics). And then a take-home test and a paper to write (more Ecology). I finished that paper last night and now I’m happy to say I’m DONE with another semester!!!!! (We won’t talk about summer classes yet though.) This was a tough semester because of anxiety but I pushed through and made it!!! :) I can start to see the light at the end of the (school) tunnel. Expected date of graduation: December 2011!

Last weekend I babysat Friday and Saturday night. When I was finished babysitting on Saturday night around 11 pm, Ryan had just made it home from Indiana. Did you get that?…. HE IS HOME!!! I couldn’t believe it at first- it always feels like I’m having a good dream! And then it hits me, and it feels like we’ve always been together and never separated by distance. As if life were normal, hehe. If summer could go realllllly slowly starting now, that’d be great! But I know how it goes… in a blink of an eye, it’s Fourth of July. (I didn’t mean to rhyme, it’s just true.)

Look at that boy with the sweet dimple. What an achievement to get it on camera! The dimple only comes out with certain smiles, just like mine.

On Monday night I had a mystery dinner. Okay, well kind of. I’ll explain.

I applied for a scholarship that was for math or science majors with an secondary education emphasis. It was really easy to fill out- just basically name, number, work experience, and then attach your transcript. I thought, sure why not! It said that we might have to be interviewed after they narrowed down the applicants.

I got an email stating that I was one of the 7 finalists and I was invited to dinner at this nice restaurant on Monday night, where they would buy us dinner and then interview us individually for about 5 minutes. The way that the email was worded made me really confused of what the situation would be like. It made Ryan, Nour, and my Mom very skeptical. Like, bring your rape whistle. (Yes, I have one of those. Thanks AU!)

Turns out, it was all okay. I knew some of the other finalists and the people giving the scholarship are an older couple who are retired from an education career. There was also another guy, their friend, who was another retiree. After we ate dinner and casually talked, they took us one by one for the 5 minute interviews. They said “Relax, this is really informal just to get to know you better. Just be yourself. Tell us about yourself. Why you chose your major, why you go to this school,etc.” I told them my short complicated story and I got the impression that they really liked me. I felt good about it.

I received a letter last night via snail mail and guess what?!? I got the scholarship!!! It is truly a generous amount and I flipped out a little bit. Going into this, none of us knew how much the scholarship would be or how many there would be. I still don’t know, besides that I got one for xxxx amount.

What an interesting experience with a good ending! Very grateful for all my financial aid. I’m not sure why God is blessing me so greatly financially, but He is blowing me away! I feel like I better listen and figure out what it’s all about. For now, it’s going into savings.

My brother graduates in one week! That will be weird. I was feeling nostalgic and put on my cap and gown from 3 years ago. (I had people sign my cap at project graduation.)

This week, my Mom and I got his senior pictures developed and his graduation announcements (thanks Ryan!) printed and sent out.

Look at this sweet face…

I’m glad to say she now has a name… Milo! She has gained half a pound since I got her. She’s so sweet. Oh and she also has a new friend…

Well, Ryan is one of them. And a kitten friend too, named Fletcher. Yes, I got another kitten!! While my Mom was at work, I went to the Humane Society and brought another one home. My kitten was lonely and scratching me all up so I decided she needed a playmate. She was so excited and started playing right away! Well, more like kinda of beating the poor guy up. But he’s learned how to be tough to keep up with her.

As Ryan’s Mom said, I might become the crazy cat woman with all these kitties. I might actually get rid of the boy kitten if I can find someone who wants him. My Mom just wants one kitten. Anyone local want him??

Aw, so sweet when asleep. Ryan and the kittens. ;)

So what else have we been up besides chasing kittens around??

Well, cuddling during all the thunderstorms and rainy weather. May flowers bring April showers? It’s a little backwards this year.

When there was a break in the rain, we went fishing- our first time together this season! They weren’t really biting though- probably because of the crazy weather lately. I caught two little ones in a creek. I can’t wait to try to fish more and have better luck.

Apparently we’re learning to cook this summer. If I can speak for us both, we don’t have any wonderful cooking skills to brag about. Yet. Haha, there’s still hope though. We cooked tacos and chicken fajitas so far! It’s kind of humorous and fun, and they both turned out yummy. I’m proud of ourselves. We might be chefs after all. (Picture proof coming soon.)

I’ve been sleeping in until noon or later. I guess since the load of the semester is off my shoulders, I can sleep better now. One day I didn’t wake up til 2:00 pm and was kinda mad! Oh well, I do enjoy sleeping. I don’t have work to do like Ryan does!

On another note, I’ve won three giveaways lately that I didn’t blog about yet.

One was a giveaway that I didn’t even enter! Apparently she chose out of her followers, and I happened to win… some sewing stuff! I don’t know how to sew, but I want to learn.

A year membership of animated cards.

A $30 Gussy giveaway! Yes, another one and now I can combine my winnings ($60) and get the tote bag I want.

And here’s two of my new summer dresses. It’s been too cool and rainy to wear anything but jeans lately. Doesn’t feel like May weather.

I’ll end this with another acoustic sneak peak video from John Tibbs Music. It’s one of my favorite songs so far I think! It’s called Bright and I highly recommend you watch it/listen.